Cardiologist: Running May Make You Fit But It Won't Guarantee Health

July 6, 1986|By Marty Fisher

The Orlando Sentinel: What made you start running at age 45?

A: I got into this macho thing at 45. I was bored of medicine, my kids were teen-agers and I thought I would like to see what I could do. I was a runner in college, and in 1939 I came in second in the Intercollegiate Mile in 4:25.

Q: What were your goals when you started running again?

A: At the beginning, I had eyes on breaking a 5-minute mile. I found out that it was impossible at that point. At 50 I finally achieved that goal when I ran a 4:47. That's not bad when you consider that I only lost about 20 seconds off my time in 30 years.

Q: Your books and columns (in The Runner magazine) are aimed primarily at runners. What about non-runners who are interested in fitness?

A: The generic drug here is exercise. There are a number of ways people can become athletes -- swimming, biking, walking. I thought running was the way for me. When I speak to people I try to take a broader view than just talking about running to becoming an athlete. The best form of exercise is a personal choice.

Q: What do you think has caused the big increase in the number of runners in the last 10 years?

A: Generally, I think many of the people who have become runners weren't the great athletes, the big men on campus you read about. A lot of them were klutzes like me who were looking for a sport that didn't require too much coordination or had participated in a minor sport. If you look at the demographics the New York Road Runners Club has put together, you'll find runners are pretty intelligent people. They are primarily college graduates. Running is a solitary sport, and usually the more intelligent people like solitary sports.

Q: A lot has been made of the deaths of people like running guru Jim Fixx who dropped dead while running. Is running a danger to your health?

A: First of all, training guarantees performance -- not health. Running eliminates most of the risk factors for heart disease like high blood pressure, but not all of them. Cholesterol is one factor that can't be eliminated by running. Jim Fixx thought that running 60 or 70 miles a week would get rid of the effects of the cholesterol he was clogging his arteries with. When he died, his cholesterol level was 285 -- way above the 180 I consider normal. When people die on the road, it is almost always caused by abnormally high cholesterol levels. These presumably healthy athletes are not. Even with clogged arteries, you can win a 10K race or a marathon. Eventually, it will do you in even if you are in otherwise great shape.

Q: What do you think about the school of thought that running lots of miles is an effective training strategy?

A: I've never run more than 30 miles in a week in my entire running career. I think people are finally coming around and seeing that kind of mileage -- upwards of 70 miles -- is destructive. The thinking used to be that you couldn't run a marathon unless you were running at least 60 miles a week. I say you can run a marathon with 30 miles a week of training.

Q: Do you think runners are realistic about their training and the goals they set for themselves?

A: I think runners are realistic at what they can do at 5- and 10- kilometers, but when they get to the marathon they get completely unrealistic. They set their goals for marathons at their 10K pace, and there's no way they can achieve it.

Q: Is competing in races as much fun as it used to be?

A: I love to race. I love the feeling after the race, but I'm not sure about the pain during the race. You are perpetually fighting against the digital clock. A couple of years ago in a race in Asbury Park (N.J.), a guy pulled up alongside me and said he had been waiting five years to beat me in a race. As I passed him by, I told him he'd have to wait three more to get another chance to try again.